


Pulling Weight

by Iclare



Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Exhaustion, Gen, Hurt Evan "Buck" Buckley, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, Not Beta Read, Season/Series 01
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-15
Updated: 2020-04-15
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:02:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,203
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23672749
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Iclare/pseuds/Iclare
Summary: Buck is trying to earn his place in the 118 after Bobby allows him to come back. But he might be trying too hard.
Comments: 17
Kudos: 163





	Pulling Weight

Buck was tired. No. That was an understatement. Buck was exhausted. It had been 3 days since Bobby had given him his job back and he had been working non stop to make up for his idiotic behaviour. His brief period of unemployment had scared him enough to realise that he needed this job more than he ever thought he did. He had nothing else. No one else. 

So he worked. The morning after his dramatic firing and rehiring he had been in the firehouse a full 2 hours before anyone else. He hadn’t slept much and, as soon as the sun started rising over the horizon, he was up and headed into work. He started on the daily chores, hoping to get as many done before anyone else came in. He hated being disliked and he had certainly been feeling it lately. 

He had started in the kitchen, mop in hand and bucket of soapy water ready to go. He cleaned the floor until he was satisfied that someone could eat their dinner off of it before moving to the counters. He cleaned them so vigorously he could feel sweat dotting his forehead. The sunlight practically beamed back at him from the shiny surface. 

He found himself standing in front of the fridge, his stomach rumbling. He hadn’t eaten the night before, his body still too wound up from the stress of the day. He chewed his bottom lip and wrung his hands in front of him, debating whether he should start making breakfast for everyone. 

He quickly dropped the idea and filled the coffee pot instead. He wasn’t a great cook and certainly didn’t want to risk poisoning his friends. If it wasn’t already precooked or arrived in a pizza box Buck wasn’t sure what to do with it. He had been watching Bobby when he cooked their meals, staring at him from his perch on one of the stools at the breakfast bar. 

He had never watched anyone cook before in real life; his mother had always shouted him out of the kitchen when she was preparing food, his father didn’t know where anything in the kitchen was except for his beer. He had watched cooking shows but they weren’t the same; there was no smell. He loved the smell of cooking food, especially onions. And he loved watching Bobby cook. He had been tempted to carry a notebook for when Bobby was cooking so he could take notes and cook for himself sometimes but didn’t want to draw attention to himself. 

Instead he grabbed himself a glass of water and downed it in two gulps. It helped to settle his stomach for now. He would eat when Bobby came in. He hoped he was making omelettes this morning. 

He made his way towards the bathrooms; his least favourite chore of the firehouse. Pulling on a set of rubber gloves he set to work. 

Bobby had shown up 30 minutes before his shift was due to start; he liked getting in early and getting set up for the day. It was the calmest part of the day; a time to reflect on what had happened before and what he could improve. He bypassed the lockers in favour of heading towards his office. He stopped in the kitchen to start making coffee but was pleasantly surprised to see a fresh pot sitting steaming on the counter. Silently thanking the previous night’s crew for being so proactive, he grabbed himself a cup and headed for his office. There was a never ending pile of paperwork with his name on it. 

An hour later and Buck was finally finished cleaning the bathrooms. He wiped the sweat from his forehead, removed his gloves and threw everything back in the bucket. He rolled everything back into the storage closet and headed towards the kitchen. Everyone should be in by now and Bobby would be making breakfast. 

The smells of cooking eggs and onions put a smile on his face and he jogged up the steps. He caught Bobby’s scowled face as he ducked under the beam and his smile dropped.

‘Well I suppose it’s better that you’re here late instead of not showing up at all. Not a great start for your first day back,’ Hen smirked as she finished the last of her coffee and rose to put her empty cup and plate into the dishwasher. 

‘What? No, I...’ Buck started to argue but was cut off by Bobby. 

‘Your shift started 30 minutes ago kid. I’m gonna have to write you up for tardiness.’ 

Buck blinked in response. Surely Bobby had seen his bag and clothes in the locker room? 

‘And you missed breakfast. Grab a protein bar, we got work to do. Because you were late you can do the bathrooms,’ Bobby chuckled, grabbing himself another cup of coffee. 

‘And they were the finest omelettes Bobby has ever made,’ Chimney spoke around a mouthful of egg. Buck glared at him. 

‘I already cleaned the bathrooms. Is there anything else I can do?’ 

Bobby huffed, turning and scowling at Buck. 

‘Bathrooms have to be cleaned every shift. You cleaned them 2 days ago. Do them again.’ 

‘No, Bobby...’

‘Buck! Just do what I tell you. Can you not be so difficult? ‘ Bobby scolded, leaving towards his office. 

Buck stared after him before turning to look at Hen and Chim. 

‘I’m not trying to be difficult. I swear. I already cleaned the bathrooms.’ 

Hen stared into his puppy dog eyes and almost felt sorry for him. But he was a rookie. She remembered that feeling. 

‘You need to pull your weight kid. We’ve all got a job to do. And some of us need to prove ourselves more than others,’ Hen spoke softly. She patted his shoulder as she passed him. 

‘Sorry Buckaroo, you gotta start pulling your weight. The firehouse is like a family, you gotta play your part,’ Chim explained, shoving the rest of his breakfast into his mouth. 

Buck’s shoulders dropped and he sighed deeply. What had he been expecting? He’d been acting like a punk since he had arrived at the 118, of course they weren’t going to trust him. He had to show Bobby how much he wanted this job. Needed this job. And if that meant cleaning the firehouse from top to bottom then so be it. 

He squared his shoulders and was just about to head to clean the bathrooms again when the alarm sounded. 

‘Come on Buck! Pick up the pace. Lazy kids...’ Bobby shouted from beside the truck. Buck huffed a sigh of frustration before hopping down the stairs. 

The call had been a hard one. A kindergarten school subject to a random arson attack. Trying to deal with 3 floors of flames and hundreds of tiny screaming children had been a struggle, even between the experienced firefighters. 

Buck had been surprisingly good under the pressure of it all, Bobby had surmised at the time. He had led the groups of children away from the fire as quickly and safely as he possibly could. His team had found him an hour later sat in a circle with the younger children playing some sort of clapping game. Bobby watched him for a few moments and couldn’t help but notice how achingly young Buck looked. With soot streaking his face and his white teeth showing he looked so much younger than his 26 years. 

‘Ready to go Buck?’ Bobby called out, removing his helmet and fixing his youngest with a stare.

‘Yeah, 2 secs Cap!’ Buck shouted back, clapping his hands and laughing. ‘Good job you guys! You were awesome! Keep it up and I want to see how good you all are next time I’m back, okay?’ Buck hopped to his feet amid a chorus of complaints from the children. 

‘I’ll come back soon, I promise!’ He waved to them all and jogged over to Bobby with a smile on his face. 

‘If you’re done playing games, we have actual work to do, if you’d like to join us?’ Chim griped as he walked passed them, wiping soot from his face. 

Buck’s face fell. Bobby watched his shoulders slump as he walked towards the truck. Bobby frowned and turned back towards the kids. They were happy, calm, and safe. Buck had done a good job. He made a note to tell him so when they returned to the firehouse. 

He didn’t get the chance. On route back to the firehouse another call came through to them, a woman trapped in a car that had crashed into a tree. The afternoon sun was hot and Bobby could feel himself sweating in his gear already. 

They arrived within minutes and all jumped out of the truck.

‘Buck, grab the jaws,’ Bobby called out as he headed towards the crash. 

‘Ma’am, my name is Bobby. We’re going to get you out of here. Can you tell me your name?’ Bobby spoke to her in a soft voice through the smashed window.

‘Linda, ‘ the woman croaked back, wincing as she shifted in her seat. 

‘Okay Linda, try not to move. Are you in any pain?’

‘My legs. They’re trapped.’

‘Okay. Well don’t worry. My best people are working on getting you out of here,’ Bobby explained as he moved to allow Buck to get close to the smashed door. ‘Hen, watch him and make sure he does it right.’

Buck couldn’t help but feel scolded. Of course he was going to do it right. He’d completed his training. He set his face and refused to show how much the comment had hurt him. He felt Hen’s presence behind him, could feel her eyes watching his every move. He felt a brief flash of panic wash over him before he exhaled deeply. He could do this. 

He prised the door open, although it took longer than he would have liked, and he caught the look that passed between Hen and Chimney and couldn’t help but feel the judgement in their eyes. Had he failed? He got the door open so surely that was enough. Must do better Buck. 

He reached down to feel if the woman’s legs were trapped and hissed when a jagged piece of the dashboard tore his arm. He pulled back and examined the tear in his jacket.

‘Just a scratch. Man up, Buck,’ Chimney laughed as he pushed him out of the way to get to the patient. 

Buck stumbled back, holding his arm tightly. Chim had said it was only a scratch but Buck could certainly feel the blood dripping down his arm into his jacket and it felt worse than a scratch. But it couldn’t be that bad. Chim was a trained paramedic. If it was bad he would have helped him. Right? 

He managed to keep himself together and not bleed over the truck until they got back to the firehouse. Escaping quickly to the bathroom he locked the door behind him and shed his jacket to the floor. He hissed as the material pulled on the wound and reopened it. It looked much worse than he had expected. It covered his wrist and half of his forearm and was still bleeding lazily. 

Running it under the cold water of the bathroom sink, he sucked in a shuddering breath at the pain. Grabbing some paper towels he pressed them against the wound and rested his back against the door, bracing himself. It hurt like a bitch, but as Chim has said, he had to man up. 

A sharp knock on the door behind him startled him and he jumped. 

‘My office Buck. 2 minutes,’ Bobby’s voice called through the wood and Buck cleared his throat. 

‘Yeah, no problem Cap!’ He called back, trying to keep him voice as level as possible. 

When he finally made it to Bobby’s office, having put his jacket back on to hide the evidence of his mistake, the stern face of Bobby had his stomach turning to ice. He stood statue still and listened as Bobby scolded him for his time keeping, his work ethic, and his job performance. Buck’s shoulders drooped with every word until he felt his eyes watering and couldn’t raise his head to meet Bobby’s eyes. 

‘But you did a really good job keeping those kids safe and distracted them from the fire and for that you should be proud.’ 

Buck smiled at Bobby and felt marginally better. 

‘Thanks Bobby. Listen-‘ 

‘No you’re not getting the rest of the shift off. Get back to work. Those bathrooms won’t clean themselves.’

‘No Bobby-‘

‘Buck I really don’t want to have this argument with you again. You need to pull your weight,’ Bobby sighed, placing a hand on Buck’s trembling shoulder, giving it a squeeze. He frowned at the young man in front of him. 

‘You alright?’ 

Buck nodded quickly, averting his gaze from Bobby’s and ducking out from under his hand. 

‘Yeah, yeah. I’d better go and get started cleaning. Gotta pull my weight right?’ Buck smiled a smile that didn’t reach his eyes and tried his hardest not to run out of the office. Bobby watched him carefully. Something was definitely wrong with that boy.


End file.
